


The Gods Among Us

by indigomini



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - MAMA (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Space, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2018-09-16 19:30:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9286673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigomini/pseuds/indigomini
Summary: Kai has been Awoken to serve as the new jump pilot of the MAMA ship after the last Kai's tragic demise. He and the other eleven must create new worlds for life to inhabit.





	1. Chapter 1

He opens his eyes. There is chatter, but the sounds are meaningless. He feels a puncture and sharp pain shoots up his spine. His head feels like it might combust from the heat. It grows so intense, he is blinded for several long, agonizing seconds. And then just like that, it is over, leaving him winded and blurry-eyed as an artificial cooling sensation ran through his body. He is rocked forward and stumbles as his vision starts to right itself.

“Here we go.”

“Oh, he’s pretty!”

“Is he taller than me? I can’t tell.”

“Guys, back up. Give him some space. Go get his clothes.”

“Why?”

“Kai,” one of them says. The one who called for his clothes. “Has your communicator kicked in yet?” He wipes the tears away and focuses on the body before him. The face. There are many other people in the room. “Speak,” the one before him orders.

“I speak,” he says.

“We got us a smart one,” someone says near the back, snickering proudly at his sarcasm.

“Jongin,” the one before him says again, handing him a bundled up uniform. “You are our new Kai. I am Suho. It will process soon.”

“I am the jump pilot,” Kai says, emotionless as he accepts the clothes and looks over the crowd. Eleven of them.

“That’s right,” Suho says encouragingly, rewarding him with a smile. “You will be piloting with Tao and Kris in shifts.” He turns to gesture for the aforementioned two to come forward. One looks like gold melted roughly into a human mold, and the other floats above the floor, heads higher than the others. They offer their own versions of smiles in greeting and introduce themselves. The one called Kris has long fangs that somehow manage to tuck into his mouth when it was closed.

“You will join them when you have acclimated,” Suho explains. His voice was soothing. “In the meantime, who wants to show him around? D.O.?”

“No,” comes the response, presumably from D.O., who stands to the side, looking like he wants to be anywhere but there.

“I will!” volunteers the tall one standing next to him. His skin shimmers like finely milled red glitter.

“Perfect,” Suho says, clapping his hands together proudly and smiles at Kai again, who is shakily pulling on the grey jumpsuit, tucking his long tail through the small flap in the back, too aware of his own nudity now as the rest of them introduced themselves, and the sight of two of them, Baekhyun and Chen, who apparently choose to not wear any clothing. Chen’s lower half was different though. Where the rest have what were roughly two legs each, Chen had possibly four or more, constantly shifting his weight around on the maroon colored tentacles. It made him uncomfortable. He shuddered.

The volunteer—Chanyeol—grabs his bicep and guides him to an exit, chuckling quietly. “Don’t stare, or he’ll shoot it at you,” he whispers.

“He does not conform,” Kai protests, craning his head back to keep his eye on the oddity. His ears twitched to try to hone in on Chen's location when Kai loses sight of him.

“Kicking in already, huh?” Chanyeol says, smiling as he leads him down a curved hallway. The walls rounded out, like they were in a tunnel. “So you’ll probably know this on your own. It’s been a while since we’ve had to replace anyone, so I don’t remember exactly how it works, but anyway. Yes, we run the humanoid terragenesis and terraforming ship. It’s normally for bilateral humanoids. But his people are bilateral enough, and they’re the ones who power the voyage to make them possible, so...be nice.” He says it cheerily enough, but Kai detects the warning loud and clear.

“This is the mess hall,” Chanyeol explains, and they dip their heads into a doorway briefly so Kai can see the small cafeteria and kitchen. “Self serve, so clean up your mess. Replace and refill whatever needs it. Or we might have to get a replacement for you.”

“I am a replacement,” Kai states, although he intended it as a question.

“You are the second Kai. Yes.”

“Am I a clone?” Kai asks.

Chanyeol laughs, clapping him on the back like he just made a joke. “Clone! That’d be so cool, but I think only Sehun’s people can do that. No. You are just the second Kai. We needed a new Kai, so here you are.”

“What happened to the last Kai?”

“He died.” Chanyeol doesn’t expand on that, walking briskly to the next stop. He palms another panel and a bigger door slides open. “This is the rec room. Keep it clean.”

“Are those the rules for everywhere?”

Chanyeol laughs again. “Yep. Unless you want D.O. to kill you. Then I’ll have to explain all of this to the new Kai!” He giggles at his joke that he recycled from the mess hall.

The tour takes ages. Chanyeol is energetic and cheerful and Kai just wants to shut off for a while to let everything finish sinking in. They reach another room and Chanyeol gives him a mischievous look before he lets Kai look inside. “This is the break room. We go here together every couple of days. You can skip out if you want to, or you can just come and observe.”

“Observe?”

“Nothing? Ooh, that’ll be fun. I won’t spoil it then.”

Chanyeol points out the crew’s private quarters next, paging each room so the crew can greet them all over again. None of them were particularly pleased about that.

They stop at Baekhyun’s room longer than the others so Chanyeol can whisper to him all about the new Kai and the quirks he’s discovered. Kai tugs on the sleeve of his jumpsuit awkwardly, careful that his tail not knock over anything and trying to look around the room at anywhere other than the small nude humanoid.

“Why does he not wear clothing?” Kai asks later, once they’ve left.

“He didn’t want Chen to feel embarrassed.”

“...Oh.” That made no sense. Chen’s genitals were covered. Or at least camouflaged. Baekhyun’s...were not.

“And this is you,” Chanyeol says, stopping at a closed door. “Any last questions?”

“Am I the only replacement?”

“Oh no,” Chanyeol says, patting him on the arm. “Goodness, no. I am the only Chanyeol, and Baekhyun is. Umm,” he ticks off his fingers, looking to the side, lost in thought. Kai realizes his fingers are each the size of Kai’s entire hand, the shimmer ending as it reached Chanyeol’s fingertips, turning to a matte burgundy instead. “And Sehun. That’s it. Don’t feel bad. You’re not lesser or anything. If anything happens to me, there will just be a new Chanyeol too. It’s okay.”

“How was the last Kai?” He wanted to ask how the last Kai died, but chooses to postpone that for another day.

Chanyeol purses his lips, looking uncomfortable. “He was shorter than you. Bulkier. Nice guy. Did his job. Didn’t talk much. Sang a lot.” He taps at the panel and brings up a small hologram. “Anyway, palm here please to program this room to you. It’s been cleaned out and should be ready to go.”

Kai complies, splaying his fingers out on the white panel. He expects cold plastic, but his hand sinks in a bit. It forms around him, squeezing gently for the briefest moment before releasing. He jerks his hand back, eyes wide at Chanyeol as the door slides open.

“It’ll be okay,” Chanyeol repeats, slapping him on the back as he walks back toward his quarters. “Get some rest. Then come down to the mess and get some food.”

His quarters are small and simple. It matches the others’ rooms. Just a small bed, a desk, a chair, a small dresser, and a bookshelf. There is an alcove that houses more uniforms. They looked too small for him, and worn. The name tag on one said “Kai”. The rest of the room is spartan. The bedding looks new. Only the clothes of its previous owner, his predecessor, are out of place. Everything else is just like him.

“Kai,” he says aloud as he lays on the bed, staring up at the plain ceiling. “I am Jongin.” He remembers Suho calling him that when he first awoken. That’s all he has. Did he have a previous life before this? Or was he just made to order because the Kai before had died?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is super different and outside of my comfort zone (I say that like I have a ton of experience to begin with). Tell me what you think so far? I'm gonna try to knock out Chapter 2 of What We Find tonight too


	2. Chapter 2

Mama, the ship they’re living in, is a  _ living ship _ . It’s like a hybrid space whale, Baekhyun had explained to him. It provides everything they need and responds to the pilots’ commands. Chen has his own port, thankfully separate from the pilot ports, which resembles a shallow pool with a white floor, where he can loan Mama the energy required to make longer distance jumps. It’s cool to watch...from afar. The pilots each have their own ports in their station on the bow of the ship. Kai’s is on the right side, and is dim for now until they deem he can safely jump them to the next location. Kris is in the center. Tao is on the left. Kris is the main pilot, and once Kai got over how his feet refuse to touch the ground, he finds that Kris is actually a pretty decent guy. Tao…Tao loves gossip. He loves to share gossip, even when Kai is overwhelmed and doesn’t know enough of these people to appreciate the sordid details.

Everyone likes to touch the little velvet-wrapped horns on his head. They do it without permission, cooing over its novelty and how the last Kai didn’t have them. It’s off-putting. Kai finds himself retreating into his room whenever he’s not working with Tao and Kris on catching up on piloting basics, just to avoid to invasion of personal space. Even D.O., who still hasn’t quite warmed up to him, has petted them once when they were in the mess hall together. It’s the worst when Chen does it. He grabs onto both, cackling gleefully, and it just puts Kai  _ too close _ to his freaky legs.

Kai is curled up in the break room when people start piling in. This has been his hiding spot for almost a week now, but it seems that ends today. He counts heads and realizes that the entire ship is here. This must be what Chanyeol was talking about.

Speaking of Chanyeol, the red giant runs over to him and, predictably, wiggles one of his horns, jostling Kai’s head side to side before he can push Chanyeol’s fingers away. They come back anyway, gently scratching behind his ear. That, he allows. For now.

“I didn’t think you’d be waiting for us,” Chanyeol remarks. “My bet was you’d be too shy.”

“I was just resting,” Kai says, looking up at him. Those words make it sound like Kai should be rushing back to his room like his tail was on fire.

“He’s gonna watch and wank,” shouts Baekhyun from somewhere in the mass of people. Someone else giggles, and then a loud moan followed by wet slaps echo through the room.

Kai’s eyes widen at the group as clothes are sloughed off and other moans and whimpers quickly join the first. He feels Chanyeol’s fingers on his chin, directing his gaze away and upward.

“Don’t be shy,” Chanyeol says, stroking his cheek with a long thumb. “I’m pretty sure everyone here has been waiting for your first time in the break room.”

Out the corner of his eye, he manages to see D.O. manipulate Baekhyun onto his hands and knees and push into him before his vision is blocked and lips are being pressed against his. A kiss, he realizes. Kai jerks back, away from a confused Chanyeol, and pushes himself to standing.

Kai opens his mouth to protest, but a rapid series of shouts drown out everyone else, increasing in volume until it ends in a shriek of delight. He sees Chen hovering over Sehun, who sags on the floor, a lazy smile on his face. Chen catches him looking and winks, lewdly wiggling what looks like two smaller, fatter tentacles at him. Kai shudders and completely misses what Chanyeol tells him until the other catches him by the shoulders, getting his attention again.

“It’s okay,” Chanyeol says. “You can just watch. Suho’s just watching today if you want to go sit with him.”

“Do I have to?” Kai squeaks. D.O. had lifted Baekhyun up and they were joined by Xiumin now. He didn’t expect Baekhyun’s small body to be able to accommodate both of them.

“Of course not,” Chanyeol says, almost done with shedding off his own clothes as a nude Tao slinks toward them. “But this is great for destressing, and your first week seemed rather hard on you.”

Tao tosses something and Kai instinctively catches it in his hands. It’s a tube of clear gel. “My turn with my copilot,” Tao hums, grabbing onto Kai’s waist. The whole ship must have gone mad. He drops the tube and jerks back out of Tao’s grasp, flattening himself along the opposite wall. Tao pouts at him, but Chanyeol spins him around and pushes him to his knees and he doesn’t seem to mind after that.

It takes Kai too long to navigate out of the room. The moment the door slides open, he breaks into a run toward his own quarters. He paces around the small room a dozen times before he winds up on his bed, bushy tail covering his face as he sucks in deep breaths.

It wasn’t really  _ scary _ . It was just...surprising. Nobody tried to force themselves on him. They all seemed to be...enjoying themselves. This was apparently a routine thing for them. Was he expected to eventually participate in this? Kai didn’t think he would ever be up for just… His brain flashes back to Chen bringing Sehun to a screaming orgasm. Nope.

Eventually, someone knocks on his door. He’s afraid to answer. They knock again, and Kai forces himself to roll off of the bed and walk nervously to the door. It slides open, revealing D.O., thankfully fully clothed, on the other side.

“Hi,” Kai says, after an awkward silence.

“Why did you leave so quickly?” D.O. asks, large, round eyes watching him expectantly.

“I…” Kai trails off. “That’s not something I think I’m quite ready for...or will ever be ready for.”

D.O. averts his eyes as he smiles, a rare sight. “You know we were all chosen to be on the Mama ship because our species are all sexually compatible, right? Not necessarily to the point they could all reproduce successfully, but we have similar enough anatomy.”

“...No, I didn’t,” Kai mumbles. He doesn’t see the point of this, but D.O. rarely talks to him as it is, so as long as he’s not trying to get naked, Kai will allow it.

“Well, that’s not necessarily why, but it’s a good byproduct. The new worlds we form are for all of our species to inhabit, not just one. So they all have to be able to cohabitate. Sex is a great way to breach the great divide between cultures. And since we are all bound to this ship, it’s better to just appreciate the compatibility.” Kai freezes as D.O. reaches up and scratches behind his ear, like Chanyeol did earlier. He’s never noticed that the small row of red dots that bisect D.O.’s face and down his body glow when he talks sometimes. The pulsating pattern was hypnotic.

“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this,” Kai says, looking away. D.O. pulls his hand back, brushing quickly over one of his horns again.

“I was the most recent replacement before you,” D.O. says. “That’s what Kai told me. It made me feel better, so I thought maybe it’d help you.”

“Even if I ever...used the break room,” Kai says, grimacing at the idea. “I don’t think I could be like...what I saw.”

“Baekhyun will try to take as much as physically possible,” D.O. says with an easy shrug. “It’s impressive, really. If we get really acrobatic with it, he could take half the team. Some of them are into some weirder stuff. If you feel up to it, you can join in, if you’re not, most of the time, most of us are just trying to get off.”

“Wait,” Kai says, stepping out after him as D.O. turns to leave. “The last Kai. Do you know what happened to him? Chanyeol just told me he died. I don’t know what any of this means and everyone just seems to assume that I do or I will, and I don’t think it’s happening? Am I faulty?”

D.O. looks up at him again. The dots have stopped pulsating and are now just a dull red against his pale skin once more. “He was a very dear friend. He died saving me,” he says, his voice calm and dispassionate. “Don’t talk about him anymore.” And then Kai was left alone to ponder his thoughts.


	3. The Ending

So this isn’t really an update. It’s an ending.

I remember being really hyped for this fic when the idea came to me, but even by chapter 2, it was fading in favor of other stories. And now it’s been on hiatus for 10 months. I have a lot of other projects, all of which are much more interesting and attractive to me than this one, so I don’t think I’ll ever come back to this one with any level of enthusiasm, to be honest. I did have a plotline for this, so I’ll share it here. The characters didn’t get into much depth, nor did the worlds, but hopefully, some of you will appreciate this, even if it didn’t get written.

The story goes that Jongin came into awareness here without quite understanding what he is, or why they’re all here. They’re actually all gods of their respective species, conjured into being from faith. Their purpose is to create new worlds for their species to survive and spread out. Their Mama powers come to play, obviously. I have a little snippet of what was originally the beginning of Chapter 3 below. Chanyeol creates the suns and cores for new planets, Jongdae powers the ship through his electricity powers, etc. They’re not aware of their god statuses, only that if any of them dies, there will be a replacement, but it will not be the same being. Just the same title. And that they orgy in the break room every couple of days.

And then that was kind of all I had. There wasn’t a giant, overall plotline, just random things I thought was cool. Hence why this stalled a lot. There was a lot of worldbuilding, but no plot.

So yeah, sorry for the disappointment, but I don’t think there were many who even read the first two chapters, much less got invested (other than Marie, I’m so sorry). But it’s over now, and hopefully, that’ll take some pressure off for me to be able to work on wips that I AM interested in.

And here was the beginning of Chapter 3, to close this out:

  
  


“Morning!” Chanyeol chirps brightly the moment Kai's door slides open. “Come with me!”

Kai is still blinking the sleep out of his eyes. “Where are we going? The ship hasn't woken me for pilot training yet.”

“Don't whine,” Chanyeol says, nearly ripping his arm off as he drags Kai along the hallway. “Suho’s orders, you're with me and D.O. this morning and then we'll hand you over to the pilots.”

Kai digs his feet in. “Uh, why?” he asks, panic causing the word to end in an embarrassing squeak. “I don't want to go to the break room…”

Chanyeol’s laugh reverberates through the rounded hall. “I'm kind of sad you didn't join in, but we aren't going to the break room again until after this next one is done.”

“What is 'this next one’ suppose to be?” Jongin asks, yanking his arm free. He returns Chanyeol's look and follows close to avoid getting dragged along again.

Chanyeol opts to clap him on the shoulder instead, keeping his arm there. “You're new, so you haven't seen how we actually work yet. Suho wanted you to see at least once, and then you can go back to your pilot training.”

They walk into a large, empty room. D.O. sits in the center, legs crossed, holding his hands over his heart and his eyes closed. He looks like he's chanting, the red dots dividing his face glowing a brilliant crimson. Chanyeol walks right up to him, unconcerned with distracting, and tugs Kai to sit down as Chanyeol positions himself right across from D.O., awkwardly folding his long legs underneath himself.

D.O.’s eyes open and glance briefly over to Kai in acknowledgment before landing on Chanyeol. He brings his hands forward, and Kai can see a small grey rock floating after them, staying in the air between the two of them. 

“Cool, right?” Chanyeol says, reaching a hand out right underneath the stone. D.O.’s own hands drop below Chanyeol's, cupping them.

Kai offers no response. He just watches as Chanyeol lifts his hand so his fingertips barely touch the rock. It glows red at the contact point and quickly spreads to cover the entire surface. Chanyeol closes his eyes, and the stone glows even brighter, to a bright white that's almost blinding when it suddenly liquefies, turning into a smooth, metallic, perfect sphere. His hand drops away, and D.O.’s lift up, bringing the orb back toward his chest.


End file.
